CQC ratings
Keeping staff morale high when your home ‘requires improvement’
Ravi Sodha, director of ACI Care, explains how care home managers can keep staff motivated and working as an effective team when their home is faced with a ‘requires improvement’ rating from the CQC
Throughout their years of operation, care homes unavoidably go through different phases and, much like every other business, the road to success can be long and winding, with peaks and troughs along the way. There will be plenty of easy times but there will also be some setbacks, and despite everyone in the care sector striving to deliver their best, sometimes this can fall short of the mark, especially in the scrutinising eye (and rightly so) of the Care Quality Commission (CQC). As I have experienced first-hand with our Mountside Care Home in Hastings, East Sussex, CQC ratings can change year- on-year. Mountside has gone through the journey of starting as good, to requires improvement, down to inadequate, and back up the scale again, with its most recent CQC report in November 2022 awarding the home a good rating. Through what has been few turbulent years for the home, one thing that has been important throughout the process is keeping staff morale high. Low employee morale can adversely
affect a home’s ability to attract and retain the best employees. It can have a detrimental effect on productivity, the standard of care, and overall work performance. Those who feel demotivated or unfulfilled by their role start to seek employment elsewhere, leading to high staff turnover. This can start a vicious downward spiral as the staff that remain are put under pressure by the extra workload, and in turn become stressed and unmotivated, which starts the process of
March 2023
www.thecarehomeenvironment.com
them looking for other work, too, and so the cycle goes on. However, action can be taken to retain staff and keep them motivated, even after a disappointing CQC report. Again, speaking from experience, despite the bumpy road, Mountside has managed to retain some staff for as long as 30 years.
Identify the problem and remove it As much as you might dread the findings of the report, it can also be your biggest help. It will clearly identify the areas where the home is struggling and commend the areas it sees doing well. Remember that the CQC are there to work with you, not against you, and sometimes it takes external insight to help pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of the home. Sometimes, management might fail to identify these aspects when they are so busy and tied up in the running of the home.
It can also lend itself to hiring an advisor or consultant to recognise and
Do not avoid tricky decisions because you are afraid of a difficult conversation
resolve these issues before the CQC visit and potentially leave a damning report. Obviously, this comes at a price, but it could be the difference between different graded reports.
Unfortunately, sometimes the biggest issue can be problem staff or a stagnant manager, and these will need to be removed before things can get better. As difficult as it is to let staff go, especially during the time of a staffing crisis, having problematic personnel can be somewhat worse. You will see straight away that the morale of the remaining staff increases as it just takes one tricky member to bring the whole team down. Do not avoid tricky decisions because
you are afraid of a difficult conversation. Recognise the problem, remove it from the situation, and suddenly other conversations will start to become a lot easier. Also, this will aid in the remaining staff in delivering quality care, which is ultimately the main goal of every care home. No job is without its problems, but it is how quickly and effectively these problems are dealt with that makes the difference in staff morale.
Set small goals
Of course, the bigger picture is improving the overall performance of the home before
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